NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: SHEEPSHEAD BAY

By MICHAEL COOPER

Published: October 22, 1995

Some neighborhoods worry about abandoned cars, others get irked by empty lots. In Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn's fishing village, there is a 125-foot cutter that some residents would like to dry-dock.

The neighborhood's tale of a tub began in 1972 when Nick Mitchell moored his vessel, the Cartigan, on pilings by the footbridge at Emmons Avenue and East 19th Street. Neighbors complained, and they haven't stopped since. "They say it's an eyesore," City Councilman Anthony D. Weiner said. "It's not neat and orderly like the fishing boats."

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," he said. "This has been going on since 1972. They hassle me and don't give up."

He said the Cartigan was originally a Coast Guard cutter that fought German submarines in World War II. He bought it in 1969 to sell. When the deal fell through, he was stuck with the vessel, and the Coast Guard and the Army Corps of Engineers allowed him to drop pilings and moor it in Sheepshead Bay. And except for a few years in the late 1970's, when he sailed it to Europe, it has been based there ever since.

"If it was a pretty ship, I don't think anyone would complain," said John Nikas, chairman of Community Board 15. "It needs a paint job."

Last week, Mr. Mitchell said he had just put on a second coat of silver primer and planned to paint the ship white.

He said he came to Sheepshead Bay almost every day from his house upstate to work on the Cartigan, a pleasure boat that no longer leaves port but has electricity, telephone service, 10 cabins, 6 bathrooms, a bar, a mess hall, a galley and a Rottweiler guard dog named Zack. "Tranquillity, right?" Mr. Mitchell said. "It's just beautiful." M.C.

Photo: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," says the owner of theCartigan. (Carrie Boretz for The New York Times)